US foreclosure filings surge 65% in April 2008

Nationwide, 243,353 homes received at least one foreclosure-related filing in April, up 65 percent from 147,708 in the same month last year and up 4 percent since March, RealtyTrac said.

"Although only about 2 percent of households nationwide will be in some stage of foreclosure this year, these properties contribute to already bloated inventories of homes for sale, and put downward pressure on home values," said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. "Areas of California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona continue to be particularly hard-hit. Property tax bases are eroding, putting municipal budgets in peril. For example, the city council in Vallejo, California -- part of a metropolitan area with a foreclosure rate that ranked sixth highest in the nation in April - last week voted to have the city file for bankruptcy."



PIMCO's El-Arian weighs in on the housing crisis, "Fed tools won't solve housing crisis".
"The longer the delay out of Washington D.C. in implementing fiscal measures to stabilize the housing sector, the greater the risk that the higher collateral damage on Main Street will induce a politically-driven regulatory over-reaction with unpredictable economic outcomes."


source: FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 4 PERCENT IN APRIL
By RealtyTrac Staff
http://www.realtytrac.com/ContentManagement/pressrelease.aspx?ChannelID=9&ItemID=4586&accnt=64847

read also: U.S. foreclosure activity increases 23 percent in first quarter of 2008
http://manonthestreet64.blogspot.com/2008/04/u.html

read also: Foreclosure filings worse in March 2008
http://manonthestreet64.blogspot.com/2008/04/foreclosure-filings-worse-in-march.html